Street Photography nominee

As a photographer of portraits I’m always in search of the individual. Last year I climbed the cathedral St. Jan of ’s-Hertogenbosch to shoot the people down on the square. A beautiful view in which I noticed all different kinds of ways people can be related to each other. This fascinated me, and it took some photo sessions to get clear what movements down were made. I had no influence on the passers by, and I almost felt the need to make myself known. The square was like a canvas with a mini-society where people pass in groups, individual or as a couple, walking, talking and not knowing they are observed by a photographer, hidden high in the tower of the cathedral.

It was 2006 when I switched from being a lawyer into following a course in professional photography (School of Photography, Breda). After successfully ending this course, I work as an independent photographer. Being a portrait photographer I’m in search of distinctive aspects of the people I photograph. Everyone has a story, and from my interest in the stories behind people I like to make special documentary photos. Each photo moment provides in a healthy tension in anticipating on the desired result. The story behind the picture must be visible in each picture.

Since 2014 I worked on the series ‘Portraits of Contemporary Circus’. The portraits where exposed in a leading gallery in The Netherlands and have been published in a book. Being familiar with the world behind the curtains of performing arts, I saw the artists perform and encountered them in their human capacity during rehearsals and in the artist's entrances. Opting for a direct approach, I used a professional small-format camera to record my subjects, in black and white, in their working environments.

In 2010 I published my first book: 40+1, Portraits of Pinkpop Audience, in which visitors of this famous pop festival were presented in photos and interviews.